Benefits of charitable giving on health

Giving money away to others may in some cases matter more than how much you make. According to research, donating money to charity increased people’s levels of well-being to about the same extent even when people’s incomes doubled.

Meanwhile, the 2019 World Happiness Report, which collected charitable giving and well-being data from around the world, found that even after controlling for wealth and other measures of prosperity, donating money is one of the six strongest predictors of life satisfaction — none of which are directly linked to income. The report was published by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network and includes data collected by the Gallup World Poll and Lloyd’s Register Foundation.

Apart from the happiness bump, there’s evidence that people who spend money on others reap physical health benefits, too.

Research published in 2016 in the journal Health Psychology found that three weeks of charitable spending was enough to lower blood pressure scores among a group of older adults. In fact, the research found that the blood pressure improvements caused by prosocial spending were similar to those associated with taking up a new exercise routine.

Other research, published in January 2021 in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, found that prosocial behaviors may reduce stress and inflammation, both of which can cause or worsen a range of mental and physical health conditions. More work has found that prosocial behaviors are linked with shifts in the expression of our genes, in ways that can improve overall health, according to a paper published in 2017 in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.

While there are numerous benefits to prosocial spending and charitable giving, simply writing a check out to a “good” cause may not confer all of the same benefits as giving to a cause that specifically holds meaning for you.

There is some evidence that giving solely to boost one’s own well-being — what could be described as selfish prosocial spending — doesn’t result in the same health or well-being benefits, Aknin explains.

Citing a research paper published in October 2017 in the journal Motivation and Emotion, she says, “We found some evidence that prosocial acts are less rewarding when enacted for self-gain than when enacted for the benefit of others.”

So, how can you give in a way that is good for the recipient and for you?

There are hundreds of worthy charitable causes out there. But experts say that people seem to get the most out of giving to causes that are personally meaningful.

“Prosocial spending is immensely personal,” Dunn says. “The decision for prosocial spending should be made freely and is not something that should be pushed by a friend, family member, or coworker.”

Put another way, if you’re giving money to a cause because your boss encourages it, or because a family member asked you to, it’s less likely to provide the same rewards or level of gratification as giving to a cause that you chose and find meaningful.

Science Focus